(30 Aug) The tree, dated to 3,500 BC by Japanese experts, is 20 meters in diameter, and is believed by locals to have been the tree of it Ahmad Al-Badawi, who legend holds was an ancient holy man. If the dating for the tree is accurate, it was planted in the Neolithic period, when Homo sapiens began to farm land and settle into towns and villages. The tree may have been among the first cultivated by modern human beings. The villagers call it The Al-Badawi Tree. The tree is located in the southern mounts of Jerusalem, which have been threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli military for the construction of settlements. During the construction of the Israeli separation wall, dozens of ancient trees which date back to the time of Christ have been bulldozed and died.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Joe Gulledge, CPT: Israel must rein in settler movement
(Aug 29) I left my home in the United States to spend the summer in the West Bank, where I was attacked by Israeli settlers late last month. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, I went to the South Hebron Hills to help keep young Palestinian children safe from Israeli settlers intent on hurting Palestinians. . . The occupied West Bank today is like walking through a page from a different era - part Wild West, part Jim Crow - with one set of laws for Palestinians and another set for Israeli settlers. . . Something has gone profoundly wrong when Palestinian children must risk their lives just to get to school. It is past time for our government to pressure Israel to rein in the settler movement.
http://imeu.net/news/
Palestinian citizen injured in the head at the hands of IOF troops in Na'lin
(30 Aug) RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces on Friday fired bullets and teargas at Palestinian citizens and foreign sympathizers who were marching in a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the separation wall on the lands of Na'lin village west of Ramallah. Local sources said that large numbers of army troops were deployed in the area and blocked media from reaching it. The citizens cut the barbed wire installed by those soldiers to prevent them from reaching their lands, but they were met with the IOF firing of bullets and tear gas that injured Mohammed Siyaj, 23, in his head while many others were treated for suffocation as a result of inhaling the tear gas.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
30 Aug Reports from the ground: Weekly non-violent struggles in Bil'in, Ni'lin, and A-Masara
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Family of Israeli landmine victim questioned for hours; home raided by Israeli soldiers
(30 Aug) Israeli forces questioned the family of Nizar Sawarkah, who was killed yesterday in Arrabah near Jenin after he stumbled on an unreported landmine in an abandoned Israeli military facility. Palestinian security sources stated that several Israel military vehicles raided the Sawarkah's home town overnight and ransacked the deceased's home. The Sawarkah family was forced into the street while the house was searched, then questioned for three hours in their home. No arrests were reported.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli forces storm playground and arrest youth preparing for soccer game
(29 Aug) The Israeli army forced their way into the playing field of a Palestinian secondary school in the village of Tell in south west Nablus district on Friday afternoon. Local witnesses told Ma'an that dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the area where a soccer game was about to be held and arrested 19-year-old Isma'iel Ibrahim Afanah and took him to an unknown destination.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians forced to strip at military checkpoint in Jenin
(30 Aug) Jenin / Ali Samoudi – Israeli soldiers forced Palestinians to remove their clothing for invasive searches before passing a military checkpoint in southern Jenin's Qabatiya yesterday. This is not an isolated incident. Eyewitnesses report that Israeli forces have done the same thing around Jenin in the past. "Soldiers used several methods to provoke, insult and humiliate citizens," a witness said. . . During the past few days Israeli forces have intensified their practices at the barriers around Jenin which is undergoing a campaign of daily raids and searches.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
PCHR report on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, 21-27 August 2008
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Palestinian and Israeli leaders to meet for talks on Sunday
(30 Aug) The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday for continued 'peace talks', according to officials.The talks come just days after a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in which little progress was made toward lifting the roadblocks to peace that Israeli leaders have imposed.The timing also coincides with the release of a report by Reuters News Agency that the US government is providing tax breaks to organizations that fund illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, in direct violation of the statements made by Rice and George W. Bush.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Bush's Mideast timeline looking unattainable
(30 Aug, AP) Peace negotiators representing Israel and the West Bank's moderate Palestinian leadership privately report progress in their efforts to outline future borders. But the talks are taking place in a vacuum, and haven't been accompanied by serious goodwill gestures that could help them succeed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Fayyad: Transitional government must be formed to oversee elections
(30 Aug) Palestinian Prime Minster of the caretaker government Salam Fayyad affirmed the need for a transitional government to replace the caretaker government in order to restore national unity. This body, he continued, would be charged with managing the country in preparation for general legislative and presidential elections. Fayyad called the transitional government a necessity if Palestinians wanted to end the separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Former advisor to Arafat: "Time for a [peaceful] third intifadah"
(30 Aug) Basam Abu Sharif, an advisor to the late Palestinian President Yaser Arafat, has urged Palestinian youth to begin a third intifadah and popular strike to force the international community to re-evaluate their position on Israel and strengthen the Palestinian negotiating position. Abu Sharif urged the youth of all of the Palestinian factions to carry out peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins until the end of Ramadan with the aim of igniting a popular intifada (uprising) and a comprehensive strike demanding "freedom and independence in peaceful ways." If Palestinians resist peacefully en masse, he said "the entire world will become convinced of the necessity to bring justice to the Palestinians."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Hamas: 'PA security arrests 11 members in West Bank'
(30 Aug) Sources close to the Hamas movement reported on Friday that Palestinian security forces, loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas and his Fateh movement, arrested 11 members and supporters of Hamas in the West Bank Thursday. . . Moreover, Hamas sources said that the security forces are still holding captive Abdul-Rahman Ashour, Mohammad Abu Al Izz, and Nasr Al Beitawi, the son of legislator Hamid Al Beitawi. The three were arrested more than a month ago.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Hamas: PA security seized 9 loyalists
(30 Aug) Palestinian Authority (PA) security services arrested 9 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Friday, Hamas said in a statement issued Saturday. According to the statement, Firas Zubaidy and Muhammad Shunnar were seized in Nablus district in the northern West Bank; Zakariyya Nassar, Walid Alqam and Salim Shahatit were seized in Dura in Hebron district in the south. . . .
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PA raids near Hebron uncover more weapons, forged document
(30 Aug) Several weapons stashes, forged documents and incriminating photographs were seized in Hebron Saturday afternoon as local police and security conducted a widespread campaign. Earlier in the day fifty fugitives were seized in Surif north of Hebron, and several imprisonment orders were issued by Palestinian Authority (PA) security and police. The Palestinian police information office said in a statement that the security campaign in Surif and Dura included raids against drug and weapon dealers. . . Saturday evening the police intelligence unit held a press conference in Hebron, where they displayed the confiscated materials. Items not shown were financial documents that "belong to Hamas."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Egypt opens border crossing with Gaza Strip
(30 Aug, AP) GAZA CITY - Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to enter and leave in a goodwill gesture before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins, officials said. People eligible to enter Egypt were told to gather in the southern town of Khan Younis at dawn, where their applications were processed. At least four buses crossed through to the Egyptian side where hundreds of police crowded to ensure security. Egypt will allow Palestinian students enrolled in universities abroad to leave Gaza, along with those with foreign residencies and work visas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Egyptians stranded in Gaza for six months bid farewell as Rafah crossing opens
(30 Aug) Since 8:00am Saturday morning, 6 buses carrying about 300 Egyptian citizens and residency permissions waited to cross the border at Rafah. The crossing will be open until 8pm and will open again on Sunday from 8am to 8pm. According to the de facto government ministry of health in the Gaza Strip, 400 patients from the Gaza Strip who have transfer permissions will leave through Rafah crossing for treatment abroad on Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Hundreds leave as Egypt opens border with Gaza
(30 Aug) Gaza: Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to leave the Hamas-controlled territory, Palestinian officials said. Egyptian security and border sources said the Rafah border crossing will remain open for two days to allow Gazans with foreign residence permits and humanitarian cases to cross into Egypt.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Gaza blockade protesters arrive in Cyprus with Palestinians
(29 Aug) LARNACA, Cyprus (AFP) - Activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip in two fishing boats in symbolic defiance of an Israeli blockade arrived back in Cyprus Friday with seven residents of the besieged territory on board, among them a teenager who needs an artificial leg. "I am very happy to be in Cyprus. I feel overwhelmed and overjoyed," said Saed Mosleh, 16, who lost his leg to an Israeli tank shell, as he was lifted from one of the boats in a wheelchair.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Gaza blockade boats planning second voyage
(30 Aug) Two boatloads of international protesters who defied Israel's blockade of Gaza sailed into Cyprus' Larnaca port late Friday, carrying seven Gaza Palestinians who had been confined to the territory. Some 32 protesters escorted the Palestinians on the 30-hour voyage that they hailed as effectively ending Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory. "It's opened the door to everything," said U.S.-based Free Gaza Group organizer, American Paul Larudee. He said the way is now clear to deliver humanitarian assistance and ferry people in and out. Free Gaza plans a second trip to Gaza within the next month.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Group on Gaza protest ship vows to start regular ferry service
(30 Aug) Larnaca: International protesters who defied Israel's blockade of Gaza to aid Palestinians have arrived in Cyprus, pledging to make a return voyage. Dozens of well-wishers greeted the 32 protesters and Palestinians at dockside of Larnaca port late on Friday.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Israeli forces arrest four fishermen at Beit Lahiya shore
(29 Aug) Four Gazan fishermen were detained and taken to an unknown location after being attacked on their boats while in Gaza waters near the northern Strip city of Beit Lahiya. Eyewitnesses reported seeing several Israeli vessels closing in on two Palestinian fishing boats, which were then attacked and arrested as the sun rose.Those detained were 55-year-old Mohammed Issa Sa'ad Allah, 18-year-old Ahmed Farid Sa'ad Allah, 60-year-old Mohamed Mohamed Sa'ad Allah and 39-year-old Jihad As-Sultan.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Stolen gas canisters were Gaza bound
(29 Aug) The largest illegal fuel depot in Israel's history was discovered yesterday when National Infrastructure Ministry inspectors raided a warehouse in Ashkelon's southern industrial zone.The warehouse, owned by a former defense establishment employee, housed more than 1,700 containers of cooking gas, or about 100 tons of fuel. Inspectors stressed that the warehouse had none of the standard fuel safety features, and the location of such an unprotected depot within rocket range of the Gaza Strip constituted a major hazard. The ministry suspects the containers were bought from an Arab resident of northern Israel, and then resold to a Palestinian resident of Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
CNN video on Palestinians' right of return, Lebanon refugee camp
(28 Aug)
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/
Medical supplies destroyed as union actions against Hamas gov't continue in Gaza
(29 Aug) The de facto health ministry of the Gaza Strip said Friday morning that it apprehended groups of doctors and nurses attempting to destroy valuable and irreplaceable x-ray and surgical equipment. The actions are part of a surprise call for a strike from the Union of Medical Professionals after it was discovered that 40 union members were fired from their jobs in Gaza. This is one of a series of union actions protesting what they call the "violent means" of the Hamas government.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Penalties for striking medical workers threatened by de facto Ministry of Health
(29 Aug) No private medical company may employ a public sector worker on strike, said de facto minister of health Dr Basem Na'em on Friday. Na'em gave an emergency press conference late Friday in Gaza city, where he addressed the recent issues of striking medical workers. The medical workers union is the third union to declare a strike in the Gaza strip in response to what it calls the dangerous policies of the de facto Gaza Strip government. Na'em added that no one, whether organization or individuals, is to be permitted to destroy the health services essential to Palestinian citizens. Severe penalties, he said, will be taken against anyone who contravenes government orders beginning on Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
False statement: PA Ministry of Health denies ordering striking workers to jobs
(30 Aug) Ramallah – The Ministry of Health for the Palestinian Authority (PA) stated Saturday that earlier statements urging striking Gazan medical workers back to their jobs was a forged statement. The ministry has avoided condemning or condoning the call to strike, but has said that it condemns the actions of the Hamas led government in Gaza with regards to medical workers.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Doctors' union: Gaza strike still on
(30 Aug) The Doctors' Union issued a statement Saturday afternoon assuring Palestinians that the medical workers' strike in the Gaza Strip is still on. The false call to end the strike issued Saturday morning by forged Ministry of Health documents, said the Union statement, was simply "one person's opinion on the subject," and not an official directive. The union added that whoever does not commit to the strike will be punished. The statement added that the strike will bring back people's rights in all governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Gaza doctors strike against Hamas sackings
(30 Aug) GAZA CITY (AFP) - Doctors in the Gaza Strip went on strike Saturday to protest the sacking of some 50 doctors and other health workers by the Hamas-run health ministry, saying the decision was politically motivated."Today we have begun a total strike in the government-run health sector in the Gaza Strip and there is good participation, with 70 percent taking part," an official in the health workers' union told AFP on condition of anonymity.The official said emergency services providers and health workers loyal to the Islamist Hamas movement which has ruled Gaza since June 2007 were not taking part in the strike.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Khalid Amayreh: Journalist recounts nightmarish detention in PA prison
(30 Aug) Awadh Rajoub, who works for the Arabic service of al-Jazeera.net, was charged with writing inflammatory reports and undermining vital national interests. "They confronted me with a huge pile of news reports I had written. They thought that these reports would indict me. They simply had no idea about how the press functions in a free society." Rajoub lamented the state of press freedom in the Occupied Territories
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.
Detainees in Al Jalama Israeli prison on hunger strike
(29 Aug) Lawyer Bothaina Doqmaq, head of the Mandela Institute in Palestine, reported on Friday that the detainees in several sections and in solitary confinement in Al Jalama Israeli prison and interrogation center started a hunger strike on Thursday in protest to the harsh living conditions and the administration's rejection to move them to ordinary sections although they ended their interrogation period.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Neve Gordon: Refusing to oppress
(30 Aug) Eighteen-year-old Sahar Vardi is currently in an Israeli military prison. She is being punished for the crime of refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli military. While Vardi is the first woman to be imprisoned this year, she is part of a broader movement of Shministim, high-school seniors who refuse to be conscripted due to the military's oppression of the Palestinians. Two other conscientious objectors, Udi Nir and Avichai Vaknin, were imprisoned earlier this month and a few others are likely to follow suit.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/
Israel may release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit
(29 Aug) An Israeli ministerial committee is set to discuss captive soldier Gilad Shalit deal on Sunday, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has asked it to draft a list of 450 prisoners that Israel may release in exchange for the soldier, local daily Ha'aretz reported on its website Friday. A senior government source was quoted as saying that Hamas recently increased the number of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for Shalit, from 1,000 to 1,500.
http://english.people.com.cn/
Hamas: List of 1,000 names not negotiable if Israel wants Shalit
(30 Aug) Bethlehem – Hamas told a Dutch newspaper that they would not give up on the list of prisoners they want free in exchange with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The statement came from Abu Ubaydah, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing. He said that the list of prisoners delivered to Israel includes all of the imprisoned Palestinian leaders and women prisoners.A Qatar-based newspaper reported Saturday that Hamas raised its demands to 1,500 prisoners after the latest prisoners swap between Israel and Hizbullah.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Modern soaps, smells, and detergents, 'Made in Palestine'
(29 Aug) Jenin – Ma'an – A detergent company based in Ramallah/Al-Bireh has launched a new promotion campaign, called "Made in Palestine," to market its goods nationally, in competition with Israeli and international brands.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Handicapped Palestinian siblings locked in cellar 'for years'
(28 Aug) BEIT AWWA, West Bank (AFP) - For years Nawal, 42, and her brother Bassam, 39, were kept captive by their father in a dark and filthy cellar sealed with an iron door because they are mentally handicapped, Palestinian police said on Thursday.Police discovered the pair by chance in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday as they were hunting for suspects in Beit Awwa, a tiny West Bank village near Israel, and handed them over to an institute for the handicapped.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Sex, love, violence - first Palestinian soap ready to air
(29 Aug) Ramallah - Womanhood, domestic violence, sexuality and love are some of the themes dominating a new Palestinian soap opera, set to air next week at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "Our main focus was entertainment," said Fareed Majari, the producer of "Matabb" - Speed bump in Arabic - the name of what is being billed as the first homemade Palestinian soap opera, using local actors, dialect and themes to discuss pressing issues in the society.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Stuart Littlewood: Israeli PR fails the 'decent, honest and truthful' test
(30 Aug) Stuart Littlewood shows how Israeli public relations fodder pumped out in London and Tel Aviv fails a crucial PR test. He argues that, if the Palestinians and other Arab were to get their media act together, they could "make mincemeat" of Israeli propaganda.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.
In Israel, a clash over who is a Jew
(30 Aug) Yael did not need a divorce, they ruled, because she had never been married. She had never been married because she had never been Jewish. And because she had never been Jewish, her children were not, either. "I was in shock. I couldn't believe it," said Yael, 43, who would allow only her Hebrew name to be published out of privacy concerns. Blond, blue-eyed and athletic-looking, Yael is baffled by the ordeal. "My kids grew up Jewish," she said. "They don't know anything else."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Jerusalem council member: Seculars only have child and dog
(30 Aug) Seculars fear Haredi takeover - Mayoral race heating up as council meeting on haredi kindergarten generates catcalls, comparison to Nazis
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Peace Train: 'Apartheid barrier'
(29 Aug) Israeli authorities recently announced that they will soon move a portion of the "separation barrier" that snakes through the West Bank dividing land available to Israelis from land to which Palestinians are confined. Word that Israel would relocate the barrier stirred hopes in Jayyous that it might be moved to the Green Line. Such hopes, however, have been dashed by recent news. After the relocation, three-fourths of the land tended by Jayyous residents as well as all their water supplies will still remain on the Israeli side of the barrier, accessible only through a single checkpoint.
http://www.coloradodaily.com/
Khaled Diab: The Middle East on Biden
(30 Aug) Not one to rest on his laurels, Barack Obama is already delivering on his promise of change – albeit in the wrong direction. He has changed his image from that of the sophisticated, sensible and sensitive "outsider" to become another establishment figure. Since his nomination, the formerly progressive senator has taken a sharp turn to the right, and morphed, in terms of rhetoric at least, into a "Republican-lite" candidate. With his selection of Joe Biden, who can best be described as a dovish hawk, the transformation seems complete, as the man resembles John McCain on foreign policy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Palestinian doctor describes torture in Libyan jail
(29 Aug) PARIS (AFP) - A Palestinian-born doctor imprisoned in Libya on charges of infecting children with AIDS has offered new and harrowing details of his incarceration, according to judicial testimony seen by AFP Friday. In his account to French judges, Doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj describes being raped by a German shepherd, having his nails ripped off and being given electric shocks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Iraq's Palestinians still live in fear
(29 Aug, AP) BAGHDAD - Omar Ahmed rarely emerges from his rundown Baghdad housing project. When he does, he leaves behind the Iraqi-issued ID card that marks him as a Palestinian and switches to the Iraqi dialect of Arabic at police checkpoints. The 23-year-old keeps a low profile because of repeated attacks and harassment of Palestinians, still resented by many Iraqis for what was perceived as their privileged status under Saddam Hussein
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraq: Kidnappings now become 'unofficial'
BAQUBA, Aug 29 (IPS) - Residents of Baquba deny police claims that kidnappings are now a matter of the past. "There are fewer people disappearing, but it continues," a trader who asked to be referred to as Abu Ali told IPS. "All of us know that several people are still being kidnapped every week."
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/
Iraq to clear out Baghdad squatters
(30 Aug) BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi forces will begin evacuating from next week squatters illegally occupying the Baghdad homes of people who fled at the height of the sectarian conflict, officials said on Saturday. The move is designed to encourage people who are the legal owners of their homes to return, said Daniel Endres, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
www.TheHeadlines.org
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